Racism propelled Falwell's career

Wednesday

May 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 30, 2007 at 9:58 AM

In his May 17 Dispatch Forum column, "Rev. Falwell changed the face of politics," appraising the late minister's legacy, Cal Thomas disingenuously characterized the Rev. Jerry Falwell's 1965 sermon, "Ministers and marches," as a critique of religious political activism. The sermon was actually an expression of Falwell's white-supremacist ideology. Falwell was an outspoken segregationist.

In his May 17 Dispatch Forum column, "Rev. Falwell changed the face of politics," appraising the late minister's legacy, Cal Thomas disingenuously characterized the Rev. Jerry Falwell's 1965 sermon, "Ministers and marches," as a critique of religious political activism. The sermon was actually an expression of Falwell's white-supremacist ideology. Falwell was an outspoken segregationist.

Racism, not "values," launched Falwell and the Christian Right into politics. In a 1958 sermon to his Lynchburg, Va., congregation, one of many decrying civil rights, Falwell said, "When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line . . . (Integration) will destroy our race eventually."

When overt white supremacy became untenable, Falwell switched targets, attacking an array of perceived social ills, including gay rights and secular public education.

Times have changed, but Falwell's legacy remains. After civil-rights gains in the 1960s, the Republican Party successfully launched its "Southern strategy" to lure disaffected white Southerners. Although former party Chairman Ken Mehlman apologized for the strategy, most Southern states became Republican strongholds. If not for racism, George W. Bush would never have become president.

ALLEN ZAK

Columbus

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